Research Highlight |
Featured
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News |
Two giant US telescopes threatened by funding cap
The Thirty Meter Telescope and Giant Magellan Telescope might need to compete for survival in the face of federal spending limits.
- Alexandra Witze
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Outlook |
Robot, repair thyself: laying the foundations for self-healing machines
Advances in materials science and sensing could deliver robots that can mend themselves and feel pain.
- Simon Makin
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News & Views |
Quantum sensor settles debate about superconductivity in hydrides
By adapting a device designed to create extremely high pressures into one that can sense magnetic fields, researchers have obtained evidence that a hydrogen-rich material is a superconductor, eliminating long-standing doubts.
- Kin On Ho
- & Sen Yang
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News & Views |
Self-assembling synthetic polymer forms liquid-like droplets
The molecules of liquid crystals and proteins can form liquid-like condensates, but such a phenomenon had not been observed for supramolecular polymers, which are held together by non-covalent bonds — until now.
- Jennifer L. Ross
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News & Views |
Tiny sheaths of solvent boost battery performance
Small solvent molecules have been found to enable a previously unknown ion-transport mechanism in battery electrolytes, speeding up charging and increasing performance at low temperatures.
- Chong Yan
- & Jia-Qi Huang
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Article |
Imaging the Meissner effect in hydride superconductors using quantum sensors
In order to explore superconductivity in hydride materials, local magnetometry inside a diamond anvil cell is performed with sub-micron spatial resolution at megabar pressures using nitrogen-vacancy colour centres.
- P. Bhattacharyya
- , W. Chen
- & N. Y. Yao
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News |
How dwarf galaxies lit up the Universe after the Big Bang
Some of the faintest objects ever observed suggest that small galaxies get the credit for clearing the ‘fog’ pervading the early cosmos.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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Article |
Symmetry breaking and chiral amplification in prebiotic ligation reactions
A study of a new route to proteinogenic peptides reveals how heterochiral preference can lead to homochiral peptides in a prebiotic world.
- Min Deng
- , Jinhan Yu
- & Donna G. Blackmond
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Article |
Identifying general reaction conditions by bandit optimization
Bandit optimization models are used to identify generally applicable conditions by efficient condition sampling and evaluation of experimental feedback.
- Jason Y. Wang
- , Jason M. Stevens
- & Abigail G. Doyle
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Article |
Integrated lithium niobate microwave photonic processing engine
An integrated lithium niobate photonic processing engine performs integration and differentiation of analogue signals, solves ordinary differential equations, generates ultra-wideband microwave signals and detects edges in images.
- Hanke Feng
- , Tong Ge
- & Cheng Wang
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Article |
High fatigue resistance in a titanium alloy via near-void-free 3D printing
We successfully rebuild an approximate void-free additive manufacturing microstructure in Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy by the development of a void-free additive manufacturing processing technique through an understanding of the asynchronism of phase transformation and grain growth.
- Zhan Qu
- , Zhenjun Zhang
- & Zhefeng Zhang
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Article |
Site-specific reactivity of stepped Pt surfaces driven by stress release
Stress release at stepped platinum surfaces is shown to influence the strain experienced by atoms near the steps, resulting in effects on the catalytic activity of the whole surface.
- Guangdong Liu
- , Arthur J. Shih
- & Zhenhua Zeng
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Nature Podcast |
Could this one-time ‘epigenetic’ treatment control cholesterol?
Regulating gene expression lowers blood cholesterol in mice, and how the Universe’s cosmic fog was lifted.
- Nick Petrić Howe
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News Explainer |
Is ChatGPT making scientists hyper-productive? The highs and lows of using AI
Large language models are transforming scientific writing and publishing. But the productivity boost that these tools bring could have a downside.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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News |
Private Moon lander is dying — it scored some wins for science
The Odysseus spacecraft gathered data successfully from the lunar surface.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
Ligand-channel-enabled ultrafast Li-ion conduction
An electrolyte design using small-sized fluoroacetonitrile solvents to form a ligand channel produces lithium-ion batteries simultaneously achieving high energy density, fast charging and wide operating temperature range, desirable features for batteries working in extreme conditions.
- Di Lu
- , Ruhong Li
- & Xiulin Fan
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Article |
Most of the photons that reionized the Universe came from dwarf galaxies
An analysis of eight ultra-faint galaxies during the epoch of reionization with absolute magnitudes between −17 mag and −15 mag shows that most of the photons that reionized the Universe come from dwarf galaxies.
- Hakim Atek
- , Ivo Labbé
- & Katherine E. Whitaker
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Article
| Open AccessThe Dimorphos ejecta plume properties revealed by LICIACube
Dimorphos ejecta plume properties were revealed by the observations from the LICIACube cube satellite, which was deployed 15 days in advance of the impact of DART.
- E. Dotto
- , J. D. P. Deshapriya
- & M. Zannoni
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Article
| Open AccessSupramolecular polymers form tactoids through liquid–liquid phase separation
Spontaneous liquid–liquid phase-separation behaviour of high-aspect-ratio fibrils, obtained from supramolecular polymerizations of synthetic components, forms tactoids by means of an entropy-driven pathway.
- Hailin Fu
- , Jingyi Huang
- & E. W. Meijer
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News |
Japanese Moon-lander unexpectedly survives the lunar night
Its engineers never gave up hope, but the Moon-lander continues to beat the odds.
- Ling Xin
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News & Views |
From the archive: Stephen Hawking’s explosive idea, and scientific spirit
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Where I Work |
Catching the rays: my part in Morocco’s renewable-energy revolution
Soukaina El Idrissi Faouzi works to optimize the performance of the world’s biggest working solar farm.
- Nikki Forrester
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News |
Giant ‘bubble’ in space could be source of powerful cosmic rays
Scientists have identified a region in the Milky Way capable of accelerating particles to super-high energy levels.
- Gemma Conroy
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Comment |
To unravel the origin of life, treat findings as pieces of a bigger puzzle
Explaining isolated steps on the road from simple chemicals to complex living organisms is not enough. Looking at the big picture could help to bridge rifts in this fractured research field.
- Nick Lane
- & Joana C. Xavier
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News |
Earthquakes are most deadly in these unexpected countries
Haiti and Turkmenistan are among the nations with the highest earthquake fatality load, a measure of the burden imposed by quake-related deaths.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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Article |
A patterned human neural tube model using microfluidic gradients
Newly developed microfluidic neural tube-like and forebrain-like structures based on human pluripotent stem cells can model pivotal aspects of neural patterning along both the rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes.
- Xufeng Xue
- , Yung Su Kim
- & Jianping Fu
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Research Briefing |
The first bulk ceramic that deforms like a metal at room temperature
An innovative high-strength ceramic consists of interlocked, nanometre-scale plates in which stacked layers of the material are twisted relative to each other. It can deform at room temperature without fracturing instantly — thereby achieving a long-standing goal for materials scientists.
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News |
First private Moon lander touches down on lunar surface to make history
After a nail-biting descent, the Odysseus spacecraft has landed near the lunar south pole and prepares to kick off a week of data gathering.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Laser pulses engrave an unlikely surface: soap films
Bumping up the detergent content allows a laser pulse to carve a groove in ethereal films.
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Obituary |
Arno A. Penzias (1933–2024), co-discoverer of the cosmic microwave background
Astrophysicist whose radio-wave observations confirmed the Big Bang origin of the Universe.
- John Bally
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News |
Supernova mystery solved: JWST reveals the fate of an iconic stellar explosion
Decades-long quest ends as the landmark observatory detects signs of the 1987 blast’s central neutron star.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Briefing |
Fractional quantum Hall effect at zero magnetic field observed in an unexpected material
The fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect occurs when the Hall resistance in a material is quantized to fractional multiples of the fundamental unit h/e2 at zero magnetic field. Observing the effect in a system consisting of a combination of five-layer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride enriches the family of topological matter phases, and opens up new opportunities in quantum computation.
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Research Briefing |
Reducing carbon dioxide efficiently to reuse and recycle it
Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide holds promise for converting CO2 into valuable products but is hampered by stability issues and wasted carbon. A proton-exchange membrane that uses lead as a catalyst demonstrates the feasibility of durable and efficient CO2 reduction.
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News & Views |
Nanotraps boost light intensity for future optical devices
A method for configuring light-trapping devices promises better optical nanodevices by amplifying light and enhancing the emission efficiency of luminescent nanomaterials — without the need for complex technology upgrades.
- Kirill Koshelev
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Article
| Open AccessAvoiding fusion plasma tearing instability with deep reinforcement learning
Artificial intelligence control is used to avoid the emergence of disruptive tearing instabilities in the magnetically confined fusion plasma in the DIII-D tokamak reactor.
- Jaemin Seo
- , SangKyeun Kim
- & Egemen Kolemen
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Article |
Monolithic silicon for high spatiotemporal translational photostimulation
A silicon-based electrode system is described that allows tunable spatiotemporal photostimulation of cardiac systems, with the optoelectronic capabilities of these devices being demonstrated in mouse, rat and pig heart models.
- Pengju Li
- , Jing Zhang
- & Bozhi Tian
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Article |
A 3D nanoscale optical disk memory with petabit capacity
Optical nanoscale disk memory with petabit-level capacity is developed by extending the recording architecture to three dimensions with hundreds of layers, and exabit-level storage can be achieved by stacking the disks into arrays.
- Miao Zhao
- , Jing Wen
- & Min Gu
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Article
| Open AccessDirective giant upconversion by supercritical bound states in the continuum
An experimental design consisting of a photonic-crystal nanoslab covered with upconversion nanoparticles demonstrates the phenomenon of supercritical coupling, resulting in giant enhancement of upconversion by photonic bound states in the continuum.
- Chiara Schiattarella
- , Silvia Romano
- & Gianluigi Zito
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News & Views |
Light can restore a heart’s rhythm
Implantable electric pacemakers save millions of lives worldwide, but they aren’t perfect. A proof-of-concept study shows that using light to regulate a heartbeat might be a better option than existing strategies.
- Igor R. Efimov
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News & Views |
Rare isotopes formed in prelude to γ-ray burst
The afterglow of a long burst of γ-rays suggests that the events leading to these explosions can be sizeable sources of some of the Universe’s rare isotopes — and that classifications of γ-ray bursts are too simplistic.
- Daniel Kasen
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Article |
Fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect in multilayer graphene
Integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall effects in a rhombohedral pentalayer graphene–hBN moiré superlattice are observed, providing an ideal platform for exploring charge fractionalization and (non-Abelian) anyonic braiding at zero magnetic field.
- Zhengguang Lu
- , Tonghang Han
- & Long Ju
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Article |
Double-side 2D/3D heterojunctions for inverted perovskite solar cells
A study presents a technique to sandwich 3D perovskite with 2D perovskites at the top and bottom, improving the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells.
- Randi Azmi
- , Drajad Satrio Utomo
- & Stefaan De Wolf
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Article |
A lanthanide-rich kilonova in the aftermath of a long gamma-ray burst
A modelling analysis shows that an unusually long gamma-ray burst gave rise to a lanthanide-rich kilonova following the merger of a neutron star–neutron star or of a neutron star–black hole.
- Yu-Han Yang
- , Eleonora Troja
- & Ignacio Pérez-García
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Nature Podcast |
Why are we nice? Altruism’s origins are put to the test
Research suggests a combination of behaviours underlie the evolution of human cooperation, and researchers make an optical disc with enormous storage capacity.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article |
Room temperature operation of germanium–silicon single-photon avalanche diode
A germanium–silicon single-photon avalanche diode operated at room temperature shows a noise-equivalent power improvement over the previous Ge-based single-photon avalanche diodes by 2–3.5 orders of magnitude.
- Neil Na
- , Yen-Cheng Lu
- & Shu-Lu Chen
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Article
| Open AccessTwisted-layer boron nitride ceramic with high deformability and strength
A bulk ceramic composed of interlocked boron nitride nanoplates with a laminated structure of twist-stacked nanoslices is created using hot-pressing and spark plasma sintering, which exhibits large elastic and plastic deformability and high strength at room temperature.
- Yingju Wu
- , Yang Zhang
- & Yongjun Tian
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Correspondence |
Triple win: solar farms in deserts can boost power, incomes and ecosystems
- Haimeng Liu
- & Jianguo Liu
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World View |
Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret
First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.
- Kate Crawford
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Article |
The Radcliffe Wave is oscillating
Spatial and kinematic analysis of the solar neighbourhood shows that the Radcliffe Wave, a wave-shaped chain of star-forming gas clouds, is oscillating through the Galactic plane while also drifting radially away from the Galactic Centre.
- Ralf Konietzka
- , Alyssa A. Goodman
- & Núria Miret-Roig